State Said to Be Reviewing Pay for Fast-Food Workers

Vicente de Jesus García heading to work on Wednesday. He earns $5 an hour as a deliveryman for Papa John’s in Harlem.Credit
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

The New York State attorney general is investigating whether the owners of several fast-food restaurants and a fast-food parent corporation have cheated their workers out of wages, according to a person familiar with the cases.

The attorney general’s office is also reviewing payment practices at other fast-food establishments, but has not begun a formal investigation, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The person would not discuss further details, including the names of the restaurants, how many are involved or the locations, except to say that several are in New York City.

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general, is examining whether employers paid less than minimum wage, did not pay overtime, failed to reimburse employees for work-related expenses or falsified payroll records.

The investigation is part of a larger effort by Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, to crack down on employers who abuse the rights of hourly low-wage workers. Since taking office in 2011, he has taken civil or criminal action against about two dozen companies found to have violated labor laws.

Mr. Schneiderman’s office is also investigating the labor practices of the owners of several New York carwashes.

“New Yorkers expect companies doing business in our state to follow laws set up to protect working families,” said Damien LaVera, a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman.

The investigation into labor practices at fast-food restaurants comes amid a campaign to try to unionize restaurant workers in a push to improve working conditions. The effort is organized by a coalition of groups who call themselves Fast Food Forward.

“What the attorney general is probably seeing is what we have seen and heard from workers in the fast-food industry for over a year now,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change, which is leading the Fast Food Forward campaign. “It shows how rampant this is and how serious of a crime it is to steal wages from the lowest income workers in the city.”

On Thursday, the coalition plans to issue a study that describes the pervasive nature of wage violations. The study was based on interviews with 500 workers and found that about 8 in 10 reported some form of wage theft in the past year.

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The group hired an independent firm to conduct interviews with randomly selected employees from restaurant chains, including Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Papa John’s and Burger King.

The report indicates that delivery workers are among the most vulnerable to wage theft. They often use their own cars, bikes or cellphones, but are sometimes not adequately reimbursed. They are also vulnerable to being robbed or injured at work and to being paid less than the minimum wage.

Vicente de Jesus García, 44, is a pizza deliveryman who said he earned $5 an hour working at a Papa John’s restaurant in Harlem. On this income, he said, he is unable to afford the food at work. Instead, he eats at a nearby Chinese restaurant that is cheaper.

In spring 2010, thieves robbed him of $400 he had collected from customers, Mr. de Jesus said. When he returned to Papa John’s, his manager told him he would need to repay the money from his savings. Mr. de Jesus, who has seven children, said he paid the next day. “I paid that money so I could keep working,” he said. “I’m explaining what’s happening here so we can change things.”

Papa John’s International did not respond to a request for comment.

Noel Scott, 46, worked as a deliveryman for a Domino’s Pizza in Manhattan. He earned $5.46 an hour, he said, and spent much of his day doing the same work as nontipped employees — putting together pizza boxes and cleaning the store — leaving fewer chances to earn tips.

His restaurant, he said, does not pay employees the tips that customers include when paying with credit cards. Mr. Scott said he was recently fired.

(In New York State, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Employees who earn tips can earn a lower hourly wage, but the employer must ensure the worker makes $7.25 when tips are included.)

A spokesman for Domino’s said that the company could be responsible only for the practices of company-owned stores, which are in the Bronx and in Brooklyn. “If anybody is paying below minimum wage or using the tipped wage credit, that would probably be independent franchisees in our system,” the spokesman, Tim McIntyre, said. “And I can’t really speak to that.”

A version of this article appears in print on May 16, 2013, on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: State Said to Be Reviewing Pay for Fast-Food Workers. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe